Six Flags Magic Mountain Kennel Service Overview

When most people decide to go on a family vacation, there’s always that tough decision about what to do with the family dog Fido. Do you stick him in a local kennel, do you find a friend to come over and care for him, or do you take him with you? Since a family pet is usually more family and less pet, many people these days are opting to take Fido with them when they hit the open road. But what do you do with him when you visit Six Flags Magic Mountain for the day? You can’t leave him in the hotel, you can’t take him in the park, and you definitely can’t leave him in the car. Fortunately, the Six Flags Magic Mountain kennel is there for you.

Many people don’t know that the Magic Mountain kennel even exists. I didn’t for the first couple of years I came to the park, but I’m also a local and don’t usually have a pet in tow. However, if you’re passing through the area with a pet and decide to stop at the park for the day, the Magic Mountain kennel is just what the doctor ordered. After you pass through the parking toll booths, look off to your right as you’re driving out to the parking lot:

You can’t miss it with the giant “Dog House” written across the side:

It’s the only building in this area and there is only one entrance:

Just inside the front door is a small office area, with a desk and sink for the employee on duty. That’s an employee restroom through the closed door:

The room just to the right of the office area is where all the cages are located. There are many cages of varying sizes. Since most pets are more comfortable hanging out in their own carrier, it can be placed right inside one of the cages, like this little cutie is sitting in:

The two opposing side walls also have cages. Here you can see a larger dog hanging out in one of the bigger cages. You provide the food and the park will ensure they have water:

These are the remaining cages in the room. There is a secondary exit out of the building just to the left of these cages, which can also be seen in the exterior shots of the building above:

The employee told me that they’ll watch just about any type of pet for you, as long as it’s safe and in a proper cage. The day I stopped by the kennel, they were also watching a rabbit:

For those really large rabbits, or small dinosaurs, or any other pet that won’t fit in any of the cages inside, there is an oversized cage just outside the front door:

They try not to use this cage if they don’t have to because it gets so hot here during the summer. The inside of the building is fully climate controlled – cool in the summer and warm in the winter. However, there are times when all the inside cages are full and they have to use this one as an overflow. They do try to shade it as much as possible and ensure that there is lots of water available as well.

The Magic Mountain kennel service is completely free of charge, is open during park hours, and there is always an employee present whenever animals are being cared for. Please do not ever leave your pet in your car, even for a short period of time, as it’s extremely dangerous for the animal. If park security notices an animal in a locked car, they will contact Animal Services to come extract the animal from your car, at your expense. The kennel service is there for you, and the price it right, so please use it.

25 Comments

I’ve always known that Magic Mountain had a kennel, but just never had a need to use it. From the outside, the building does seem too small, but now that I’ve seen it by means of this update, I can say that it doesn’t seem so bad at all. Most people won’t be in the park longer than eight or ten hours, which is not that long for their pets to be there.

Even though I live 40 miles from the park, I’m a local and wouldn’t be bringing our pet there. But we don’t have a dog or cat. We have Chimi.

On a side note, that cover alongside of the roadway near the kennel—the one that looks like a gas station—actually was at one time…a gas station. I recall that they sold Union 76 fuel there starting back in the ’70s, but that place has been “out of gas” for quite some time now. I think selling gas would be a good thing now, and with more electric cars coming onto the scene, having a place to charge them would be a great service.

Doing a story on the old gas station has been on my to-do list for quite some time, but I haven’t been able to find a single photo that I can use yet. If anybody has one, and wouldn’t mind me publishing it, please send me a copy.

I absolutely LOVE your idea of adding electric charging stations to the RV area! I’m not sure how much use they would get, but I bet the park could partner with someone to put them in for free, in exchange for advertising or something, and then reap huge public kudos by promoting the heck out of them. Great idea, Eric!

I know that AeroVironment makes charging stations for electric vehicles, and manufacturers of them recommend that get a dedicated station. You can use a standard 110-volt outlet, but your car will take something like 10-15 hours to recharge vs. just a few hours with the charging station.

However, I believe the cost is a bit high ($5000-$10,000) per station, which makes it quite an investment for the average homeowner, but perhaps in quantity the park could get a discount.

I’m pretty sure a company the size of Six Flags could easily work a deal with someone to get a few charging stations added to every park for very little cash out of pocket. You merely work a trade for advertising. Sprinkle some banners around the park and mention that the company’s charging stations are available at the park as guest benefit in the radio ads and it’s a win-win. You could even have some fun with it – “Our roller coasters are 100% pure electric and your car should be too!” or “Now you and your car can get charged up at Six Flags Magic Mountain!”

It sounds like a great idea until some drunk teenager tries to insert their penis into the charger…just sayin LOL

The Coaster Guy

02/01/2013 at 10:48 pm

Don’t you believe in karma? 😉

John

07/13/2014 at 5:37 am

I wish they would add some EV Charging. I know this is an old post, but it came up in my google searching to find out if SFMM has charging stations.
Many stations are pay to use and those of us that have EV are happy to pay for the use. If they hook up with a company like ChargePoint or Blink, the network company can install the stations and the network bills the EV Driver. Cost to SFMM should be next to nothing (Really, its doesnt cost much) and like it was said above, the advertising would more than offset the cost.

Maybe one day… lol

Monica Torres

05/28/2015 at 4:34 pm

Hello, I need to know if dog kennel is allowed for my dog even she is not service dog? Also I need to know how much for one day for my dog at dog kennel? Let me know, please. Thank you.

Hi Monica, the kennel will watch any dog, not just service dogs. They’ll actually watch just about any animal for you, as long as it fits in one of their cages. I don’t believe there is a charge for the service, but I would call first and ask.

Interesting report Kurt. I’ve always known that building was there, but wasn’t really sure it was ever used. My son did tell me that my ex-wife and kids went to the park one time and needed to use the kennel for their boxer. When they got there it was closed, but a security guard called someone to come open up. They had to wait 30 minutes before someone came. Very cool that it’s free of charge though!

Love the kennel. And Jeff the Kennel wasn’t closed it just had not opened yet. Trust me when the call goes out to open the kennel that call goes out park wide and every effort is made to get there ASAP for the guests.

First check is with ESO to see if any employees have come back to work and might have restrictions and grab them quick and get them to the kennel. Of course that employee might be in the outer reaches of the park and they really need to get someone there with 14 minutes.

By that time the Opps office has sent the call out again and now the silver badges are involved and the walkie talkies are heating up and heads will roll if that kennel isn’t opened with 5 minutes. So chances are a supervisor will come by and open the kennel and all will be good. Its also amazing how many employes don’t feel conformable around animals for one reason or another so turn down that offer.

Its a nice controlled building with A/C and heat has nice employee bathroom and about 36 cages for pets of all kinds and for the record it does have 2 doors a front and a side door.

And the guests are invited to come back to the kennel throughout the day and take care of their pets and walk them so they can do their business outside and not in the cage as the on duty employee will only provide water if allowed by the guest in writing.

When I worked at the park I worked the kennel many times. Not just dogs and rabbits but reptiles, snakes, birds, and even ducks and monkeys have been housed in there. Back when the park had the animal farm division they could also house horses backstage. One thing that always seemed to happen is you would have just 2 or 3 dogs housed in there and they would bark non-stop for hours but if you had 15-20 animals in there it would be as quiet as a library in there

Hello Kurt big fan of the site love the up dates you do. Had a question about Disneyland do you know where I can get tickets for a lower price haha I know it’s almost impossible but maybe you know your the coaster guy thanks a lot mike

Thank you, Mike. I’m glad you like the site. Unfortunately, I do not know where the best deals are for Disneyland tickets. Perhaps one of my Disney colleagues, like Sir Clinksalot from MiceChat, will see this and help you out. The only thing I can think of are the special deals you can get if you live in certain SoCal zip codes. I see those on the gift card rack at my local grocery store. They’re usually much cheaper than gate prices, if you live in SoCal, of course.

This is a great service. Do you know if the six flags near San Francisco also has a kennel? We have a motorhome with a/c, will it fit in the parking lot? and how far is the parking lot from the park entrance so that we could come out and check on him frequently? Thanks

Hi Denise – I’m not sure if Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has a kennel. I don’t think they do, but I’m not positive. Six Flags Magic Mountain actually has a dedicated RV parking lot. It’s an old gas station that used to be onsite, so if you get there early enough you can park under the canopy to help keep your RV cool. Not only is it the closest parking to the main gate, but the kennel is also located in the same lot. You can easily walk from the main gate to the RV parking lot in about 5 minutes. Sounds like you’re all set for a great visit!

Hi, does anyone have any information as to whether the kennel is going to be open and ready to house dogs on November 18-20 of this year? We will be coming those dates and want to ensure that we can use the facility! Earlier this year we made a trip from AZ only to find that the kennels weren’t available due to maintenance and re-roofing! Needless to say we weren’t able to go into the park because we weren’t going to leave our dogs in the hotel or car. We really don’t want to run into this issue again!! Thanks

I agree I recall when the kennel was closed for one (1) day when maintenance was taking off the entire roof of the kennel and it was unsafe for both Guests and Cast Members and of course the animals. It was necessary to close the kennel that one day. It took about a month for the entire re-roofing and new waivers during that time were issued mentioning the use of loud power tools that might be used in a re-roofing job. Worst part was the generator that was inside the kennel to supply the air tools. I know at that time there was no compensation for the inconvenience of the kennel being closed. Perhaps a trip to G.R. and mention it to them and they might have slipped you some front of the line passes. I know if I had any in my pocket I would have given them to you.